Good signs from a not-so-good Whitecaps result

If you follow the fortunes of Derby County, Burton Albion and the Vancouver Whitecaps, it wasn’t the greatest 48-hour period imaginable.

Derby County dropped a 1-0 decision to Queens Park Rangers in the Championship playoff at Wembley on Saturday and failed to win promotion to the Premier League.

Burton Albion was on the wrong end of the same scoreline Monday in the League Two playoff against Fleetwood Town so they failed to advance to League One.

Devastating results indeed for my two favourite English clubs.

By comparison, the Whitecaps’ 2-2 draw Saturday with Cascadia rivals Seattle Sounders wasn’t as gut-wrenching but it hurt.

The two sides play again at BC Place on July 5 and you can bet referee Ismail Elfath won’t be anywhere near Vancouver that day, as his decision to call a phantom foul on Caps captain Jay DeMerit and award a penalty kick to Seattle allowed the Sounders to escape with a not-so-well-earned point.

Angry Whitecaps fans understandably derided Elfath unmercifully after the match but once they calmed down, they should have been encouraged by what they saw for much of the game.

Erik Hurtado continues to emerge as the story of the year so far, as he absolutely schooled two Sounders defenders in the box before firing the ball over goalkeeper Stefan Frei for his third goal in three games.

Hurtado has always had speed but a year ago, it didn’t look like he had the touch or confidence to succeed in Major League Soccer. Now he has both in abundance.

Caps fans don’t have many fond memories of the Tom Soehn era but they should thank the club’s former soccer operations director profusely for plucking Gershon Koffie from the third tier of Ghanaian football.

The 22-year-old midfielder has “taken his chance,” as they say, and run with it – winning balls as usual but now spreading the ball more effectively and pushing forward like never before.

Matias Laba was also outstanding in midfield, with his distinctive loping gait taking him wherever he needed to be to defend effectively.

In fact, the only Whitecap who struggled somewhat against Seattle was 19-year-old Kekuta Manneh, who, at times, can be more effective coming off the bench than starting.

It’s still early days in a long MLS season but the effective loss of two points against Seattle leaves the Caps holding the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, just two points ahead of the LA Galaxy, who have a game in hand.

Maybe the addition of a proven goal scorer this summer will help the club better finish off the many scoring chances it creates at home and reduce the chances of a bad referee’s call affecting the game result.